U.S./World category, Page 363
Judge dismisses case against Michigan man accused of threatening Biden, Harris
BAY CITY, Mich. — A federal judge on Friday dismissed a criminal case against a northern Michigan man accused of threatening President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. After a preliminary examination in federal court in Bay City, U.S. Magistrate Judge Patricia Morris concluded there was no probable cause...
Prosecutors in classified files case: Trump team’s version of events ‘inaccurate, distorted’
WASHINGTON — Prosecutors in the classified documents case against former President Donald Trump told a judge Friday that defense lawyers had painted an “inaccurate and distorted picture of events” and had unfairly sought to “cast a cloud of suspicion” over government officials who were simply trying to do their jobs....
U.S. hits militias in Iraq and Syria, beginning retaliation for fatal drone attack
WASHINGTON — The U.S. military launched an air assault on dozens of sites in Iraq and Syria used by Iranian-backed militias and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard on Friday in the opening salvo of retaliation for the drone strike that killed three U.S. troops in Jordan last weekend. President Joe Biden...
Biden honors troops killed in Jordan as remains returned to U.S.
President Joe Biden honored three U.S. service members killed in a recent attack in Jordan as their remains were returned at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware on Friday. The president was joined by members of their families for what is known as a dignified transfer — a solemn occasion...
Federal judge in D.C. postpones Trump’s March trial on charges of plotting to overturn 2020 election
WASHINGTON — A federal judge in Washington formally postponed Donald Trump’s March trial on charges of plotting to overturn the 2020 election as a key legal appeal from the former president continues to work its way through the courts. U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan on Friday vacated the March 4...
Great escapes exhibit explores how World War II captives coped with tedium and torment
LONDON — Eighty years ago in one of the most ingenious and audacious acts of defiance of World War II, 76 prisoners of war tunneled out of a German POW camp into a snowy forest. For most of the escapees, it ended tragically. Three made it to safety, but the...
London judge acquits climate activist Greta Thunberg of refusing to leave oil industry conference
LONDON — Climate activist Greta Thunberg was acquitted Friday of a charge of refusing to follow a police order to leave a protest blocking the entrance to a major oil and gas industry conference in London last year. The courtroom gallery erupted with applause as Judge John Law told Thunberg...
Ukraine says Russia refuses to turn over the bodies of military plane crash victims
KYIV, Ukraine — Russia has refused Ukrainian requests to hand over the bodies of scores of prisoners of war whom the Kremlin claims were killed in the downing of a Russian military transport plane by Kyiv’s forces, a Ukrainian intelligence official said. Andrii Yusov, the spokesperson for Ukraine’s military intelligence,...
Hamas says it’s studying Gaza cease-fire proposal, but appears to rule out key provisions
BEIRUT — Hamas officials said Friday that the group is studying a proposed cease-fire deal that would include prolonged pauses in fighting in Gaza and swaps of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners, but at the same time appeared to rule out some of its key components. Osama Hamdan, a senior...
U.S. employers add robust 353,000 jobs in January in further sign of economic strength
WASHINGTON — The nation’s employers delivered a stunning burst of hiring to begin 2024, adding 353,000 jobs in January in the latest sign of the economy’s continuing ability to shrug off the highest interest rates in two decades. Friday’s government report showed that last month’s job gain — far above...
3 killed when small plane crashed and burned in Florida mobile home park
CLEARWATER, Fla. — A 72-year-old Florida man was drifting off to sleep when he heard an “unbelievable roar” and was thrown to the floor covered in insulation and broken glass, narrowly surviving the deadly crash of a small plane that ripped apart his mobile home and destroyed the trailer next...
Prosecutors weigh perjury charge for ex-Trump CFO Allen Weisselberg over civil fraud trial testimony
NEW YORK — Manhattan prosecutors are weighing a potential perjury charge against Donald Trump’s former corporate finance chief in connection with testimony he gave in October at the ex-president’s New York civil fraud trial, two people familiar with the matter told the Associated Press. Allen Weisselberg, who had been the...
A grainy sonar image reignites excitement and skepticism over Earhart’s final flight
COLUMBIA, S.C. — A grainy sonar image recorded by a private pilot has reinvigorated interest in one of the past century’s most alluring mysteries: What happened to Amelia Earhart when her plane vanished during her flight around the world in 1937? Numerous expeditions have turned up nothing, only confirming that...
What to know as Republican governors consider sending more National Guard to the Texas border
AUSTIN, Texas — As Republicans cheer on Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s escalating feud with the Biden administration over immigration enforcement, some governors are considering deploying National Guard members to the border — again. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday was among the first to commit more personnel to Texas, announcing...
New videos show towers of fire that prompted evacuations after last year’s fiery Ohio derailment
Residents of eastern Ohio can now get an up-close view in newly released videos of the twin toxic towers of fire that forced them from their homes last February when officials decided to blow open five tank cars filled with vinyl chloride they worried might explode days after a Norfolk...
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin apologizes for handling of cancer and hospitalization
WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin apologized on Thursday over his handling of his prostate-cancer surgery and two-week hospital stay, saying he should have informed President Joe Biden and the American public. “I did not handle this right,” Austin said during a briefing at the Pentagon, where he returned to...
California pummeled by first of back-to-back atmospheric rivers as ‘Pineapple Express’ sweeps stateVideo
LOS ANGELES — Heavy rain flooded California roadways and much-needed snow piled up in the mountains as the first of back-to-back atmospheric rivers pummeled the state Thursday. The storm focused its energy on the southern and eastern parts of the state after initially hitting the San Francisco Bay Area on...
Skyscraper-size asteroid will buzz Earth on Friday, safely passing within 1.7 million miles
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — An asteroid as big as a skyscraper will pass within 1.7 million miles of Earth on Friday. Don’t worry: There’s no chance of it hitting us since it will pass seven times the distance from Earth to the moon. NASA’s Center for Near Earth Object Studies...
More Americans apply for unemployment benefits but layoffs still historically low
The number of Americans filing for jobless benefits rose last week to the highest level in 11 weeks, though layoffs remain at historically low levels. Applications for unemployment benefits climbed to 224,000 for the week ending Jan. 27, an increase of 9,000 from the previous week, the Labor Department reported...
Ukraine claims its sea drones sank a Russian ship. Moscow says a Patriot missiles downed its plane
KYIV, Ukraine — Ukraine claimed Thursday it used sea drones to sink a Russian corvette in the Black Sea as Russian investigators alleged that a Russian military transport plane that crashed last month was brought down by two U.S.-made Patriot missiles fired by Kyiv’s forces. Ukraine’s military intelligence agency, known...
Farmers on tractors create chaos outside an EU summit to protest rising costs and bureaucracy
BRUSSELS — Farmers in convoys of tractors created chaos outside the European Union’s headquarters on Thursday, pelting police with firecrackers, eggs and beer bottles as they demanded leaders at an EU summit provide relief from rising prices and bureaucracy. With thick smoke from burning bales of hay hanging over parts...
U.K. judge dismisses Trump’s lawsuit over dossier containing ‘shocking and scandalous claims’
LONDON — A judge in London on Thursday threw out a lawsuit by former U.S. President Donald Trump that accused a former British spy of making “shocking and scandalous claims” that were false and harmed his reputation. Judge Karen Steyn said the case Trump filed against Orbis Business Intelligence should...
Greta Thunberg has gone on trial over a London climate protest outside an oil and gas conference
LONDON — Climate activist Greta Thunberg went on trial Thursday for refusing to leave a protest that blocked the entrance to a major oil and gas industry conference in London last year. Thunberg, 21, was among more than two dozen protesters arrested on Oct. 17 after preventing access to a...
Iran begins building 4 more nuclear power plants
TEHRAN, Iran — Iran began construction on four more nuclear power plants in the country’s south, with expected total capacity of 5,000 megawatts, the official IRNA news agency reported Thursday. Iran seeks to produce 20,000 megawatts of nuclear energy by 2041. The country has one active nuclear power plant, a...
3 people killed, 9 injured in collapse of Boise, Idaho, airport hangar
BOISE, Idaho — A hangar under construction on the grounds of the airport in Boise, Idaho, collapsed Wednesday, killing three people and injuring another nine, officials said. Five of those injured in the collapse are in critical condition, the city said in a statement released Wednesday night. Authorities responded at...
